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“I’ve got to relieve the unbearable pressure,” he keeps thinking. He is desperate to kill the gnawing emptiness that now comes with each new success. No matter how much he achieves, it’s never enough. There’s so much more to reach for and there’s never enough time to do it all. The tension headaches are becoming more intense. Each day, the treadmill seems to be going a little bit faster. People are no longer human. Customers have become revenue streams - their importance measured in terms of their sales potential. Company employees are just another set of resources to be driven to maximum production.

This past week I watched as my nine year old daughter faithfully practiced her figure skating solo performance. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Day after day, she persistently practiced her spirals, spins and jumps.
And everyday as I watched her practice I would see her begin her sessions with great enthusiasm, and then, over the course of 45-60 minutes, I would witness her enthusiasm vanish like air being let out of a balloon.
She would start strong, but often leave the ice looking, and feeling, deflated.
Why? What was causing this pattern of behavior to take place day after day?

Wherever you might find yourself today - whatever the state of your health, marriage, career, family, or finances - what if the life you’re presently experiencing is based on making the best choices you could have made on the road of life?

Have you ever read something someone wrote and the words just resonated deep within you? Have you ever watched a movie where a particular character or scene caused strong emotions to well up inside you? Have you ever listened to a song that struck a deep chord in your soul?
These experiences happen to you because these various mediums act as mirrors as they reflect what is already deep within you; emotions, experiences, insights, talents often hidden behind the protective wall of fear, shame and guilt.

A few months have passed since I wrote my last post, "What If There Is No Blueprint for Your Life." At the very end of that blog post I promised that we would uncover 5 key principles, or axioms by American psychiatrist Dr. Milton Erickson that could revolutionize our lives.

We live in a noisy world with many bellowing voices seeking to give us advice on how we should live our lives. Truth is, some of these voices come from well intended people like our parents, teachers, pastors, spiritual guides, friends, and authors. While other voices we hear are found in magazines, movies, music, blogs and on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And finally, there are the voices we hear over and over in our head - the voices that can be ruthless, critical, and demanding.

This afternoon I set 45 minutes aside to go for a bike ride and, you need to know, I love cycling. I love the smell of the fresh country air. I love the sound of the tires rolling on the pavement. I love the feel of the gentle breeze on my face and the way cycling clears my mind and invigorates my body. Ever since I can remember, I have loved cycling.

Gardens remind us that life is short and that the good things, the beautiful things, the things of importance, take time. Gardens teach us that patience and perseverance are required values if we expect to discover our unique brilliance.

What is it that I desire?
If my deepest desire is for completeness - to be whole; how does this deepest desire align with anything else that I might want knowing that all desires will be connected to my thirst for wholeness?
If I want an Audi R8 Coupe - what would this car give me? And if I was fully and completely experiencing what this new car would give me, what else might I want that is even more important for me to experience now?

It's Saturday morning of the May long weekend and the Starbucks in Brockville, Ontario is bursting with people, voices, laughter and energy. We're visiting a good friend for a couple days and I just needed to get out early this morning to think and write.
If you've been following the blog here at Unitas Project you would have noticed that I have not posted anything for a couple weeks. Over the last 5 weeks, life has changed for me. For several different reasons I have gone back to landscaping full time - this has impacted my ability to write.
However, these choices and the outcomes they produce in my life leave me with many questions around life and how it works. Maybe that sounds like a pretty profound thought, or perhaps just a little simple.